With Kids!

New England is a uniquely beautiful corner of the planet through its preservation of both small town culture and the great outdoors. The lack of big chains and corporations adds to its charm, but can also add to the overwhelming nature of planning for wheelchair travel. Don’t fear: you can have the best of both worlds. Wheelchair accessible Berkshires makes a great getaway for all families.

Getting There and Around

The Berkshires is not really one location, but several small towns, with plenty of nature’s beauty in between, combined to create one big destination. It’s not a city, and even the biggest cities within are designed to still feel like small towns. There is reasonably priced, wheelchair accessible, public transportation servicing 12 cities and towns in the Berkshires, but it’s designed more for locals getting to work and appointments than for tourists looking to explore.

Simply put, having your own car is the best way to navigate all that the Berkshires has to offer. Because of the small town set-up, handicap parking is always fairly easy to find. Keep in mind that your handicap placard allows you to park for free in any metered space for any amount of time.

What to See and Do

Like much of New England, the Berkshires is a perfect blend of small town USA and the great outdoors. Both have plenty of wheelchair accessible options.

Outdoors

Hit the Slopes

Jiminy Peak has adaptive ski lessons. Win. These are popular and fill up in advance, so plan ahead.

Try a Tube

While none of the many slopes in the area advertise adaptive snow tubing, all of them are happy to work with you to make it work. We talked with Bousquet Mountain and arranged for Jaden (our son who uses a wheelchair) to sit on the magic carpet lift, instead of stand, and to have extra space and time for both loading and unloading. Unfortunately, I can’t actually tell you how it worked out, because the kids ended up not feeling well and we didn’t go.

Take a Trail

This is a must. Please don’t come home from the Berkshires without taking a gander at her natural beauty. The Berkshire Natural Resource Council has a really useful trail guide. You can view by map, or look at the full list to find accessible trails. Please know that they have high ADA standards to mark a trail as wheelchair friendly. This means that you can trust that if it’s marked with the wheelchair icon, it is quite accessible. It also means that you may be able to handle some trails that are not marked as accessible. Check out the detailed descriptions and choose what’s best for you.

Please note that not all trails are maintained during the winter, which means they may freeze over. We enjoyed Parson’s Marsh… once we got through the icy entrance to the boardwalk path.

Play

We’re always up for a playground break, and there’s a great all-abilities playground at Rotary Park, inside of Springside Park in Pittsfield.

In Town

That should be plural. The Berkshires consists of several small towns. Our favorites were Stockbridge, because it was everything you would expect of Norman Rockwell’s hometown, and Great Barrington (rated the nation’s best small town).

Stockbridge

Take a picture across the street from the center of town (don’t worry, you can fit the whole downtown in one photo if you stand back) and compare it to Norman Rockwell’s depiction when you make it to the museum. The general store from the painting is now a cafe, but it’s still worth the stop. Next door is the closest thing to an actual general store in town. It sells all of the locally made small town goods you would hope for. Entrance is accessible, but the children’s section in the back is up a step.

Take in the view while enjoying a pastry across the street at The Lost Lamb, or stay for lunch at The Red Lion Inn.

The Norman Rockwell Museum is fully wheelchair accessible and welcoming to children. It’s just beyond town, and includes the building where Rockwell completed most of his artwork. Children 18 and under are free and adult admission is free with your disability ACCESS card.

Great Barrington

In addition to being named the nation’s best small town, Great Barrington was home to both Edith Wharton and W.E.B. Dubois. Compared to Stockbridge, it’s nearly a metropolis with all of its shops, restaurants, wineries, and arts attractions.

We planned to take a nature stroll along the wheelchair accessible riverwalk, but it was closed for the winter. In any other season, this would be a great start to taking in the culture of the area, including a view of the castle!

Instead, we started our tour at Patisserie Lenox with fine French pastries to fuel our walk. Yum. You’ll find plenty of pastry and ice cream shops along the way. Pixie Boulangerie and SoCo Creamery are other great options.

The walk along Railroad Street and Main had plenty to keep the kids interested, from toy stores and candy shops to book stores and novelty shops. Matrushka Toys and Gifts is one of those welcoming shops where there is plenty for the kids to play with while you shop. Robin’s Candy has every weird and nostalgic treat you can think of. I would’ve loved to have explored more at Rubiner’s, a local cheese and wine shop, but the cheese smell was too much for the kids! Prairie Whale holds the reputation for fine dining (handicap parking and ramped access around back), but Baba Louie’s is a great family stop for sourdough pizza.

All the Rest

If you have more time to explore, your options are endless! Pittsfield, Lee, and Lenox are other great small town destinations filled with charm and treats. We didn’t get to do an accessibility review in each town, but if they’re like Stockbridge and Great Barrington you’ll find them fairly easy to navigate, with a handful of older shops that remain off limits.

Check out a detailed map of each town, here. In keeping with that small town vibe, there are all sorts of festivals, markets, and productions throughout the year. Checkout the events calendar before planning your trip.

And Beyond

If for some reason you’re not satisfied with all that’s available in the area, it’s not hard to venture farther. The Amazing World of Dr. Seuss Museum is an hour away (depending on where in the Berkshires you’re staying), in Springfield. The Eric Carle Museum is a similar distance away.

We thought we may head to Boston during our stay, but we found plenty to fill our time right where we were.

Where to Eat

Don’t confuse “small town” with “not much to offer.” The Berkshires is a foodie paradise with all of the good stuff from fine dining to mom and pop diners, and from breweries and wineries to bakeries and cafes. New England has a focus on sustainability and local, so farm to table restaurants are pretty easy to come by. We didn’t find anything we disliked (see town specific recommendations above), but I did want to highlight our absolute favorites.

Barrington Brewery

Just outside of downtown Great Barrington, the Barrington Brewery hit the sweet spot for all of my picky little eaters (and parents!). Park on the south side for an accessible entrance. Order the peanut butter cookie sundae – even if it’s not on the menu, they can usually make it happen. AHmazing.

Rose’s Restaurant

Rose’s Restaurant is in Lee, and area we didn’t get to explore much. It looks like a house, and feels like a house, which makes it a pretty comfy meal stop. We visited for breakfast and loved the pancakes and omelets. They were pretty busy, but it was all locals, which is always a good sign.

Where to Stay

This is always tough in small town areas that avoid chains! You can search for accessible Airbnbs or HomeExchanges, but we didn’t find much in the area. We stayed at Holiday Inn’s Oak n’ Spruce Resort. There’s plenty to do on-site, with pools, hot tubs, saunas, mini golf, an arcade, a family game room, and a movie theater. If you stay near Great Barrington or Lenox, there are other big-hotel options, like Fairfield Inn or Hampton Inn, two of our go-to chains.